Field
The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to electrical interruption equipment and, more particularly, to a vent apparatus that is operable to vent gases that are generated within an interior of an electrical enclosure, due to an arc event, to an adjacent compartment or to the exterior of the electrical enclosure for pressure relief.
Related Art
Electrical interruption equipment is generally understood. Electrical interruption equipment typically is usable to open a protected portion of a circuit in certain predefined overcurrent conditions, under-voltage conditions, and other conditions. Such electrical interruption equipment may include a circuit interrupter such as a vacuum circuit breaker, switch, or other such device. Depending upon the particular application, the circuit breaker or other circuit interrupter may be situated within a metallic enclosure.
Many circuit interrupters, primarily circuit breakers, include a set of separable contacts which are separable to interrupt current flowing therethrough. Such separation of the contacts is typically accompanied by an electrical arc that forms between the contacts and which is desirably extinguished as soon as possible. The circuit interrupter is designed in a way to minimize the amount of arc when used as intended. Such an arc or arc event can general gases that include a high temperature plasma and which are preferably dissipated as soon as possible.
Difficulty has been experienced, however, in applications wherein circuit interruption equipment is retained within an interior of an electrical enclosure such as is typically formed of sheet metal. Such electrical enclosures are intended to isolate the electrical interruption equipment and the associated conductors within its interior and therefore desirably does not include significant holes or other openings through which arc gases can easily flow. Moreover, a plurality of such electrical enclosures may be physically connected together, and the gases that may be generated due to an arc event from a circuit interrupter in one electrical enclosure are desirably not transferred into an adjacent electrical enclosure having another circuit interrupter situated therein. However, it is important to vent the arc gasses and pressure from within the metallic enclosure to other compartments within the enclosure or to the exterior of the enclosure as soon as possible and with as little resistance as possible. By improving the speed that the arc gasses and pressure can be released, pressure buildup and thus damage to the electrical equipment is minimized. Improvements are therefore desirable.